Defeat Cancer (28 page)

Preventing angiogenesis (or tumor blood vessel creation) is another component of our anti-tumor protocol. Bindweed, bovine cartilage, sea cucumber, curcumin, and soy are some effective agents that we use to do this. Copper chelation is used to reduce copper levels in the body so that tumor blood vessels don’t have enough copper to grow.

Melatonin has been shown to have anti-cancer properties. It also appears to be statistically safer, more effective, and much less expensive than chemotherapy drugs for treating certain types of cancer. For instance, a drug called erlotinib (Tarceva®) is commonly used to treat lung, and sometimes, pancreatic cancers, but melatonin has proven to have greater beneficial effects upon these cancers than erlotinib.

Some time ago, a series of studies was done by oncologists in Italy, in which the benefits of melatonin were assessed on patients with non-small cell lung cancers. In one study, researchers gave ten milligrams of melatonin daily to patients who had non-small cell lung cancers and who had stopped their chemotherapy regimens due to their failure to respond to them. They were compared with similar patients who didn’t receive melatonin. A year later, 26 percent of the patients who had taken melatonin were still alive. None of those that had done chemotherapy without melatonin were alive. In another study, a group of patients was given chemotherapy along with twenty milligrams of melatonin, while another group
of similar patients was given only chemotherapy. After one year, 44 percent of the patients in the melatonin group were still alive, compared to 19 percent in the group that didn’t take the melatonin. This represents a twofold increase in the survival rate of patients who took melatonin! In yet another study, patients with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, were given either radiation and melatonin, or radiation alone. Twenty-three percent of the patients who took the melatonin were alive after one year, while none of those who received radiation without melatonin were still alive.

Oncologists don’t usually recommend melatonin to their patients. You would think that they would, given that many studies have been published which attest to its effectiveness. Instead, they recommend drugs like Tarceva, which is an antineoplastic medication that inhibits epidermal growth factor receptors in cancer. Research shows that melatonin also inhibits this receptor, and has other beneficial effects upon cancer, as well. Studies of patients with certain types of cancer demonstrate that those who have failed chemotherapy but who take melatonin have a 26 percent survival rate after one year, compared to 10 percent of those who just take Tarceva. Furthermore, Tarceva may cost more than $4,000 per month, while twenty milligrams of melatonin cost only $11 per month. That’s medical politics for you.

We administer high doses of Vitamin C to our patients, sometimes concurrently with Vitamin K. When given at high doses together in an IV, both of these vitamins have strong anti-cancer properties. We also use resveratrol, delta-tocopherols, and sometimes bicarbonate. Of all the natural forms of Vitamin E, delta-tocopherols have the greatest effect upon cancer. We also give our patients Vitamin D, which has anti-cancerous properties, but it’s important to dose Vitamin D properly, as the wrong doses can be immunosuppressive. All of these substances function in various ways to disadvantage cancer cells. Resveratrol is an example of a substance that influences cancer cells via its cell signaling effects.

Using some pharmaceutical drugs off-label (for purposes other than what their label indicates) can also be useful for treating cancer. For example, some phosphordiesterase inhibitor drugs, such as Viagra (sildenafil), reverse tumor suppression mechanisms, which means that they unmask cancer cells so that the immune system can more easily attack them. This effect has been proven in studies on mice and humans. Additionally, if Viagra is used in conjunction with Adriamycin (a chemotherapy drug), it helps to reduce negative side effects that Adriamycin causes to the heart. So Viagra seems to be helpful for treating certain cancers in a variety of ways and can be used in conjunction with chemotherapy.

Low-dose naltrexone is another powerful anti-cancer drug. When given in a full 50 mg dose, it suppresses endorphin activity, but when given in small doses, it has the opposite effect. It has been used to treat a variety of cancers with favorable clinical results. I gave low-dose naltrexone to one of my 80 plus-year-old patients who had developed B-cell lymphoma. This patient had failed to respond to various treatments, and was in hospice. He didn’t want to regularly come to my office, take a lot of medicine, or spend a lot of money, so I gave him a prescription for naltrexone, which he took on a nightly basis. Six weeks later, he was out of hospice—ballroom dancing! I provide this example because he had such a dramatic response to the medication, and was one of the few patients that I treated with only low-dose naltrexone and nothing else. So his case provides insight into how effective this treatment can be.

Persantine (dipyridamole) is a drug that augments the activity of various chemotherapeutic agents, including Etoposide and Methotrexate, and has also proven to be helpful for treating melanoma. Basically, it helps to unmask cancer cells so that the immune system can more easily recognize them. Cancer cells have ways of hiding from the immune system, or suppressing it, and this is one substance that helps it to recognize them.

Stimulating the immune system is important if people are to effectively heal from cancer. We often recommend Beta-1, 3-D glucans to our patients, which give the most “bang for the buck” by providing the greatest benefit at the lowest price. We also recommend various mushroom products, shark liver oil, and many other substances that stimulate white blood cell production. There are also other naturally occurring substances that aren’t commercially available which we put together and use for this purpose.

At our clinic, every patient’s detoxification protocol is different. Unlike the field of oncology, where everyone follows the same protocol, integrative doctors like me tailor treatments to the individual patient. So detoxification means different things for different people. For example, we may recommend coffee enemas to some of our patients, and saunas to others. Saunas may be appropriate for some, but they aren’t helpful if patients are debilitated. We may also recommend substances to support the body’s excretory organs (those which are responsible for processing toxins). Silymarin (milk thistle) and alpha-lipoic acid are two that we use for the liver. We may recommend herbal formulas, like Triphala, which is also used for gastrointestinal detoxification. We may prescribe probiotics, which replace healthy bacteria within the intestinal tract, as well as substances which contain fiber, because these help to carry toxic substances out of the body. Additionally, we may recommend foods that contain high amounts of sulfur, such as asparagus, eggs, and garlic because sulfur aids in detoxification.

For heavy metal chelation, we use everything from pharmaceutical medications such as DMSA and DMPS to natural substances like zeolite. I may or may not recommend heavy metal detoxification to patients who are doing chemotherapy. We don’t tend to recommend it to those that are weak and doing chemotherapy, but it depends upon patients’ overall condition. When treating cancer,
there are no hard and fast rules. Doctors must take into account their patients’ overall integrity and response to treatment, and tailor treatments to the individual. For example, if patients are strongly mercury-toxic, and their overall condition isn’t bad, then I may not treat their cancers until they get the mercury (dental amalgams) out of their teeth, because mercury weakens the immune system.

Like other aspects of treatment, my patients’ diets are individualized. I usually refer people to the nutritionist at our clinic, who spends time with them and reviews their dietary issues. Generally, I recommend that people with cancer avoid red meats and sugars and instead consume high quality, alkaline foods. Juicing fruits and vegetables is also beneficial. I also recommend that they do electrodermal and chemical tests to determine what their food allergies are, so that their immune systems aren’t focusing on allergens when they should be focusing on cancer.

Sometimes, we take an inventory of our patients’ emotional condition, to see what can be done to improve their emotional and psychological well-being, since this is intertwined with their physical health. If patients are feeling suppressed, then their immune function will be down. If they are feeling empowered, then their immune function will be good. A Canadian-born psychiatrist named Eric Berne wrote a book called
The Games People Play
(1964), in which he indicated that there are three things that people need in order to be psychologically healthy (after their physical needs are met). Those three things are awareness; that is, being able to appreciate one’s surroundings; spontaneity, the “spice of life;” and intimacy, the sharing of one’s self. This doctor believed that if people were deficient in any one of these three areas, then they wouldn’t be as happy as they could be.

Some psychologists think that disease is the body’s way of expressing that the person doesn’t want to participate in society and that cancer is the ultimate socially acceptable way of not participating. So after taking an inventory to find out what needs to be added and eliminated from our patients’ lives, we may need to help them to change the conditions in their lives which have made them not want to participate in life anymore, and create new conditions which would favor them wanting to participate.

We also look for emotional roadblocks to healing in our patients, and help them to remove these, so that their other treatments will be more effective. In particular, there are three health-robbing attitudes that I observe and attempt to address in my patients. I call these “the three R’s”: regret, resentment, and righteousness (or rather, self-righteousness).

When events don’t unfold in life as people think they should, they may be living with feelings of regret or resentment, and theoretically, these feelings can be associated with the development of chronic degenerative diseases. So dealing with these emotions is important. Two ways that people can do this are by forgiving others or rationalizing past events. Whatever they can do to make the past okay is helpful for their healing process. People who live with regrets must realize that they can’t change the past, and so must instead change their perspective, such as by forgiving those who hurt them, or rationalizing past events so that they are now okay with whatever happened.

Also, having an attitude of self-righteousness can block healing, because people who are self-righteous tend to go around thinking that they are right all of the time and that everyone else is wrong. Such people may find themselves living in a world that appears to be very hostile towards them—a world that, in their eyes, is full of wrong. Because of this, they are angry, and their feelings of anger are counter-productive to their healing.

There are various ways to heal such attitudes. Group therapy, self-help books, counseling, and tapping on various acupuncture or other historically effective points on the body through techniques such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), are some ways to do this. EFT (
www.emofree.com
), for example, reprograms the subconscious mind through the use of affirmations and touch. Another approach is neuro-linguistic programming, which is a therapeutic technique that’s used to detect and reprogram unconscious patterns of thought and behavior, in order to alter psychological responses.

There are many ways to de-stress the body and heal emotional trauma, and everyone’s needs are different. Some people go to counselors, while others may practice Qi Gong, which is a Chinese form of healing that happens via the manipulation of energies. I usually go through different treatment options with my patients to help them determine what they most need. I use energetic devices that, at least in theory, can release emotional trauma from the cells. I also use homeopathy, which has proven to be effective for releasing emotional trauma.

Scientific evidence is proving that the body’s cells hold memories, although not in epic pictures like the conscious mind. Theoretically, if you put the right signals into the body, those memories can be unlocked. There are various devices that produce an energetic, homeopathic-like resonance which can unlock the memories. The Asyra is one such device, although specific medical claims can’t be made about this (or any other device that hasn’t been approved by the FDA). Other methods and devices exist which may alter the body’s energetic patterns and thereby promote healing, as well.

I have used homeopathy on my patients for over 25 years and I believe that it heals, both emotionally and physically. To provide a modern analogy of how it works, suppose that you have a remote control device on your car key which unlocks your car door. If the
remote control button on the key is pressed, and the battery and the receiving device on the car are working, and an effective signal is emitted and received, the car door lock will either close or open, provided that the car door mechanism is in good shape and there is enough power coming from the battery. Just as the car door lock is programmed to open and close, we are programmed for selfhealing. So theoretically, if the right energetic signal is put into the right person, and that signal is received by the body, it can initiate a process of self-healing. The goal of homeopathy is to initiate a cascade of events in the body using the person’s own power (or energy). It’s based upon the body’s ability to self-heal.